PostHog Metric
Product Analytics
Retention Rate = (Users Active in Period / Users Active in Previous Period) x 100
User retention rate measures the percentage of users who return to your product within a defined period after their first use, based on PostHog event data. It is the inverse of churn and the primary indicator of whether your product delivers sustained value over time.
Full guide: definition, formula, and benchmarksPostHogProduct AnalyticsUser Retention Rate
User retention rate measures the percentage of users who return to your product within a defined period after their first use, based on PostHog event data. It is the inverse of churn and the primary indicator of whether your product delivers sustained value over time.
How to calculate user retention rate
Why user retention rate matters for PostHog users
Retention is the single most important product metric. A product with strong acquisition but weak retention is a leaky bucket - no amount of growth investment compensates for users leaving as fast as they arrive. Improving retention has a compounding effect on every other growth metric.
Positioning retention rate at the top of your metric tree makes it the metric that all other product metrics ultimately serve. Feature adoption, activation, engagement, and satisfaction are valuable because they drive retention. The tree reveals which upstream metrics have the strongest causal relationship with retention.
Understand and act on user retention rate with KPI Tree
KPI Tree syncs retention data from your warehouse and tracks day-1, day-7, day-30, and day-90 retention rates. Position retention as the primary outcome metric in your product tree.
Assign RACI ownership to your VP Product. Set alerts when retention rates decline and track product changes, feature launches, and experience improvements against their retention impact.
Get started with your PostHog data
MCPPull metrics from PostHog directly through the Model Context Protocol.
Connect your existing warehouse where PostHog data already lands.
Our professional services team can build you turn-key AI foundations in a matter of weeks. Data warehouse on Snowflake/BigQuery, ELT with Fivetran, all modelled in dbt with a semantic layer.
Related PostHog metrics
Churn Rate
Product AnalyticsMetric Definition
Churn Rate = (Users Lost During Period / Users at Start of Period) x 100
Churn rate measures the percentage of users who stop using your product within a defined period, based on PostHog event data. It quantifies user attrition by identifying users whose activity drops below a defined threshold, providing a behavioural measure of retention failure.
Cohort Retention Analysis
Product AnalyticsMetric Definition
Cohort retention analysis groups PostHog users by their signup or first-use date and tracks what percentage remain active over subsequent days, weeks, and months. It reveals retention curves per cohort, showing whether product changes improve or degrade long-term user retention.
Daily Active Users
Product AnalyticsMetric Definition
Daily active users counts the unique users who trigger at least one qualifying event in PostHog within a calendar day. It serves as the foundational measure of product engagement, indicating how many users find enough value in your product to return and use it daily.
Feature Stickiness
Product AnalyticsMetric Definition
Feature Stickiness = (Feature DAU / Feature MAU) x 100
Feature stickiness measures the ratio of daily active users to monthly active users for a specific feature, expressed as a percentage. A higher ratio indicates that users who discover a feature return to use it regularly, suggesting it provides ongoing value rather than one-time utility.
User Activation Rate
Product AnalyticsMetric Definition
Activation Rate = (Users Completing Activation Actions / Total New Signups) x 100
User activation rate measures the percentage of new signups who complete a defined set of activation actions in PostHog within a specified timeframe. Activation actions typically represent the behaviours that correlate with long-term retention, such as completing onboarding, creating a first project, or inviting a colleague.
Explore user retention rate across integrations
All PostHog metrics
A/B Test PerformanceBounce RateChurn RateCohort Retention AnalysisConversion RateDaily Active UsersDrop-Off AnalysisEvent Frequency AnalysisFeature Adoption RateFeature Flag Impact AnalysisFeature StickinessFunnel Conversion AnalysisGoal Completion RateMonthly Active UsersPage/Screen ViewsSession DurationSession FrequencySurvey Response AnalysisTime Between EventsTime to First ValueTrend AnalysisUser Activation RateUser Flow AnalysisUser Journey AnalysisUser Segmentation AnalysisWeekly Active UsersEmpower your team to understand and act on PostHog data
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